NASCAR Cup Series

Not enough: Kahne fails to advance in Chase after 12th at Talladega

Published Oct. 19, 2014 6:15 p.m. ET

foxsports

Kasey Kahne used a late regular-season win in Atlanta to earn a spot in the 2014 Chase for the Sprint Cup and barely made it through the Challenger Round after a tough final day of that round in Dover. But now the Hendrick Motorsports driver's road to the championship is over.

Despite leading 12 laps on the day, Kahne finished Sunday's Geico 500 at Talladega Superspeedway in the 12th spot and will not advance to the Eliminator 8.

"You just try and get the best finish you can," said Kahne. "Basically the restart before, they all checked up in front of me so I went high to get momentum and that didn't work. I don't know why that didn't work, but it didn't. Anyways, I'm in 20th and got back to 11th."

With so much going on in the hungry pack, Kahne said track position was key, especially in the closing laps of the race.

"It was tough if you weren't in the top few spots," he said. "Once we were up there early on we could race. We had a great Farmer's Insurance Chevy -- led laps and ran in the top-three and back to the lead. Once I was 10th or eighth, it was just really difficult to get back to that point. I think we got back to fifth or sixth, but that was about it."

By scoring the win on Sunday, Brad Keselowski earned an automatic bid into the Eliminator 8. With Keselowski taking that final transfer spot, three of the four Hendrick Motorsports drivers -- Kahne, Jimmie Johnson, and Dale Earnhardt Jr. -- are now all eliminated from championship contention.

VIDEO: A look back at Kasey Kahne's only win of the 2014 season at Atlanta